


Termination Shock

by Sheshaventures



Series: Glow in the Dark [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Ascians (Final Fantasy XIV), Character Death, F/M, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Other, POV Second Person, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Soul Bond, Soul Damage, fluff at first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-30 13:06:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19853788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheshaventures/pseuds/Sheshaventures
Summary: Termination Shock: The boundary marking one of the outer limits of the Sun's influence; one boundary of the Solar System; where the bubble of solar wind particles slow down to travel slower than the speed of sound.What boundary might be broken to incite termination?





	Termination Shock

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the end of 5.0
> 
> This is non-canon to the continuing series.

Orange and red light filtered through the surface of the water above Amaurot. Standing upon the edge of one of the many walkways, you craned your head to catch a better view. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, the surface of the water obscuring the setting sun just enough to spoil your vantage point.

Heaving a soft sigh to yourself, you turn away - and run straight into a solid body with a yelp of alarm. You swat at Emet-Selch, because of course it was him - who else delighted in tormenting you day after day? "Hades, I thought I told you to make some sound before you snuck up behind me!" you frown at his impish smile. "If I swing at you next time and bloody your nose, I won't feel the slightest bit guilty."

His golden eyes practically shimmered, "Oh come now-" the stark sound of crystals shattering "-you must be losing your edge if you cannot sense me from this distance. Where's that Warrior's intuition?"

Rolling your eyes at him, you cast a last wistful glance at the painted sky above you before your gaze turns back to him once again. The playful look is still spread over his features, but it is softened by a thoughtful expression.

"What troubles a stalwart soul such as yours? Surely nothing of import, we've barely done anything but follow after those friends of yours these past few weeks," as much as his words were baseless pouting, he wasn't wrong. After you had purged yourself of the Light corrupting you from the inside - after both of you had - not much remained for you on the First.

Well, nothing of that sort of epic caliber, anyway.

You're pulled out of your musings by Hades snapping his fingers in front of your nose - and you instinctually brace for some form of magic mischief. However, there's only his face, eyebrow raised as if to mock you, "I believe I asked you a question, Hero."

"Ah, my apologies. I was thinking of a few weeks ago, of us," his entire demeanor softens ever so slightly at your words. "But before, I was trying to get a decent look at the sunset. It looks to be a beautiful one, though I'd rather not leave the city if I could help it."

"And why would that be? Shades and memories aplenty live here, but unless I create something additional there remains naught else for your mortal form," his voice slipping into that lecturing tone he was so fond of. Giving speeches, dishing out his own brand of Truth.

Let's see if you couldn't make him lose his words.

"Well. You're here," you say softly, but honestly. The playful look drops. "I'd rather remain where you are, most of the time." Through the smug mask he wears, you sometimes catch glimpses of how he truly feels. You treasure those moments.

But you treasure these moments more. Where the mask strips away entirely, his true person visible for all to see on his face. Luckily, there was only you.

You'd hate to have to share.

He was speechless for a few more precious moments, and you did not have to be bonded to him to feel the affection he practically radiated with how it was etched across his face. Of course, these moments never last for very long, and he quickly regained his composure. Gesturing widely with his arms and flourishing his hands, he levels you with that mischievous smile. "Why didn't you just say so, my dear? We may both leave and watch the spectacle together," his voice was lilting and you were quick to agree.

"Of course! What a wonderful idea," you beam at him, chest practically aching with what you felt for the man. Despite all of his masks, despite the airs he maintained almost every waking moment - you understood him. Reaching both of your hands out for him to take, you ready yourself. "Take us away, then. I trust that you have a fitting location in mind?"

"Only the finest of views for ones such as us," he takes your hands in his, one side of his mouth pulling upwards in a sly smirk. "I do happen to have excellent taste." Eyes crinkling cheekily, he drags you both into the shadows.

____________________

Two pairs of feet make landfall on a cliff high above the Kholusian coastline. Blinking away the last of the disorientation that the shadowy travel always brought about, you turned to behold the setting sun. Golds and oranges mingled with reds and lavenders, bleeding off into deepest indigo. The ledge you had landed on was set into a recess in the towering cliff that bisected the area, affording you a wonderful view and also secluded privacy. No traces of civilization marred your view - not even Eulmore could be seen.

Excellent taste indeed.

Emet-Selch begins to whisper, as if speaking more loudly would dispel the beauty that lay before you. He traces the details of your hands with his, spinning tales of long ago ages and forgotten skies. Of clouds and stars and all manner of beauty found painted across the heavens. You listen closely with rapt attention even as your eyes never leave the horizon.

Soon, far too soon, the sun sinks beneath the waves.

A sigh, almost too soft for you to have heard, and Emet-Selch moves as if to draw you away once more. "Wait," you bark, more forceful than you wished.

He tilts his head, raising one arched brow, "Yes, my dear?"

"May we look at the stars together?" you didn't want this moment to end yet. "Please, I'd like to watch the stars fill the sky with you."

Another sigh, this one long and drawn out, "Fine, I suppose I can spare you more of my precious time." Finally relinquishing your hands, he makes a show of dusting the ground off before sitting in a theatrical manner. You roll your eyes and settle in next to him, body leaning against his.

Silence, this time. A fitting backdrop as the stars slowly began to wink into existence one by one. As much as you did not want to break it, you needed to give voice to the rising feeling in your mind. A similar urge to the one you had before, when you had joined your essence with Hades in the most intimate of ways.

You had not done it since, after all. It was time.

"When I said I wanted to watch the stars together, I meant together," you murmur, eyes fixed on the sky. You feel him turn sharply to look at you, hear the hissing intake of his breath.

A beat of hesitation. "You showed no desire to repeat that, my love," the softness with which he spoke finally bade you to move your eyes to his. With the intensity brought about by so many lifetimes, the gold in them was almost luminous.

"We simply haven't had the time," the answer was true, if short, and he could read that honesty on your face. His intensity eased ever so slightly, "It doesn't seem the type of thing to do on a whim, or to try and fit into a small amount of time. This is the first you and I have truly had the night entirely to ourselves."

Fingers brushed against your cheek as he lifted a hand to thread into your hair, pulling you to him to kiss you in an achingly sweet manner. Bringing all of his experiences to bear, he began to show you - rather than tell, for once - how touched he was.

The first brush of his true self against you was no surprise. You knew him, had felt him in your innermost self, and opened yourself to him as you had done before. Breath hitching, he broke away from your kiss to rest his forehead upon yours. Peering at him, you catch his lids falling shut with a flutter of lashes.

In the fading light his dark aether was barely visible, ghosting along your skin. It was only faintly cool but, coupled with the way he descended to your soul's center, caused you to shiver.

He made contact. **_Fondness. Relief. Fading worry._**

Huffing soft laughter, you let your own eyes fall shut, "Silly man, you honestly believed I wouldn't want this with you ever again?"

"Old habits are hard to break, my dear," you could feel him circle you, threading the two of you together. His Darkness blanketed the two of you, but did not suffocate. **_Contentment._** There was no desperate fervor this time, as you folded in to one another. It was slow, soft and sweet, revealing the two of you to one another and laying you both completely bare. Breath puffing softly against your lips, he whispered something that was stolen by the sharp crack of breaking glass. **_Love._**

Something suddenly felt horribly wrong.

Deep inside of you, at the very core of your soul, his uttering of that name prodded something. It writhes into being, scraping a hole through the depths of you until the bottom is ripped away and a crack leading to an abyss yawns deep. Chaos ensues.

**_Alarm. Denial. Fear._ **

His eyes are wide as he grips your shoulders, mouth moving rapidly and black-violet aether swirling. Eyes blinking slowly, you are suddenly aware that he is speaking to _you._ But you can't make out any words. Chiming fills your ears, the frantic beat of crystal shards striking one another building to a cacophony. You feel him yet, but only just, holding on tightly for a lifeline in this storm. **_Terror._**

The world both slows and speeds up as this force within tears at you from the inside. It's white-hot and scours all that you are on its way to where your soul is joined with your lover. It claws and rends, and you feel a wrenching as it reaches for him.

He feels everything. **_Bracing. Panic. Defiance._**

But you don't allow it. Throwing yourself physically backwards against the cliff's wall, you simultaneously grab this force - Her force - and turn it against yourself. Building the strongest barrier you can between it and Hades, you coil tightly around where you are joined. Protectively. As if it knows exactly what you aim to accomplish, what - who - you have chosen, it rises. She rises.

Against you.

But you do not fear.

Death will take you before She takes him.

**_Horror._ **

Her rejection rips open that fissure inside of you, crack becoming a yawning chasm. You are burning, wisps of white aether rising from you like steam while all that forms your soul is shredded and hurled – discarded - into that space. You know the cost of this, the sacrifice you are making. This time, there would be no new life for the shards of your soul. For any of them. But this time, it is worth it. For him. Faintly you feel your body fall to the ground as your muscles give out beneath you, but inside you stand strong.

As you have always stood against your enemies.

He feels everything. **_Unbridled concern. Mad grief._**

An eternity passes - a mere few moments pass - before it is done. The force fades, taking with it all of the strength for which you were so renowned. Only now can you feel how suppressed you had been. Only now can you _hear, feel, think._ Only now are you truly _free._ Hades is still connected to you, so you uncurl yourself and reach for him. Arms limp at your sides, you only manage to weakly do so with your essence. The chasm gapes wide.

You are dying.

He feels everything. **_Pleading. Despair. Denial._**

Despite your body rapidly losing sensation, you feel him haul you up and into his chest. Dimly, the feeling of him crushing you far too hard against him registers. It occurs to you that this _should_ hurt. The last thing your eyes catch is a violent cyclone of black and violet aether whipping around you both, howling, rending everything around for leagues. And his glowing golden eyes, wild and unhinged. Eyelids not closing, your vision darkens to black regardless.

There is no pain. Only muted sensations now of him through your bond. You drift, steadily descending towards that rift inside of you, between you.

Down, down, down you plummet. Into that fading space beneath both of you where he could not follow. His voice both within and without desperate as he clung, grasping, using every ounce of power he possesses. Every trick learned through eons of time attempted. Still, it was not enough. Could never be enough.

You were a fading flicker, a tool deemed useless by your patron. And so oblivion rose to rip you from him. Panic shot through your bond, but only from him. It was so muffled now for you, so grey. You try to reach out, one last caress of love, but his screaming - shattering, **_NoNoNotAgainJustFoundYouPleaseNO_** drowns you out.

Even his words begin to muffle inside you. He needs to know. You love him.

Hades.

You love...

H

a

d

e

s

.

.

.

You fade.

____________________

The sound of his screams echo alone across the landscape.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sorry.


End file.
